


Ever After

by martianwahtney



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Artist!Pidge, Artist!Shiro, Ever After- Freeform, Gender-Neutral Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, I'm going to add in so many characters, Lance is Danielle and Keith is Henry, Lance's mother's name is Antonella, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Prince!Keith, Servant!Lance, and in case any of you were wondering yes Matt Holt is in fact Michaelangelo, ever after au, if any of you have seen Ever After yes Shiro is da Vinci and Pidge is Gustav, it's gonna be fuckin lit y'all, just some funfacts, oh and Hunk is Jaqueline and Shay is Keiths Guard Captain, so uuuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh that's where Anton comes from, the first chapter is pretty much just an intro I don't have time to do a full one rn, ummm idk if we do this here but I don't own anything about Ever After ok, ur welcome, yes actually I named Lance's father Daniel bc it's a play of Danielle and I couldn't help myself
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-10-17
Packaged: 2018-12-20 20:54:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 8,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11929083
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/martianwahtney/pseuds/martianwahtney
Summary: The Ever After au no one asked for. Or where Lance becomes a servant in his own home, Keith is a Prince who wants to not give his life to God and Country and somewhere along the way they fall in love and a shoe is lost.





	1. Once Upon A Time

The Brothers Grimm stepped out of their carriage. Neither of them had any idea why they were at the castle, nor why Her Majesty had called upon them, but they were honored. A servant came to get them and led them to Her Majesty, she was lounging on a divan.  
  
“The Brothers Grimm, Your Majesty,”  
  
“Good day, gentlemen,” she greeted.  
  
“Thank you so much for coming. I suppose you’re wondering why anyone my age would request an audience… with the authors of children’s stories,” she said.  
  
“Your letter was most intriguing, madam,”  
  
“I find your collection of folk tales quite brilliant actually,”  
  
“Thank you,”  
  
“But I must say, I was terribly disturbed when I read your version of The Little Cinder Girl,”  
  
“There are those who swear Perrault’s telling with its fairy godmother and magic pumpkins would be closer to the truth. Some claim the shoe was made of fur. Others insist it was glass. I guess we’ll never know,” one said with a small shrug.  
  
One of the brothers caught sight of an ancient looking painting depicting a young man in what looked to be watercolor paints.  
  
“Forgive me, Your Majesty, might I enquire about the painting?”  
  
“He’s really quite er… extraordinary,”  
  
“His name was Lance McClain, and this…”  
  
She gestured her servant forward and he brought forth a jeweled shoe resting on a satin pillow.  
  
“... was his glass slipper. Perhaps you will allow me to set the record straight?”  
  
“Then it’s true… the story?”  
  
“Yes, quite,” she said.  
  
“Now then, what is the phrase you use? Oh, yes. Once upon a time, there lived a young boy who loved his father very much,”


	2. Utopia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> where Lance is a young boy who is excited to meet his new stepmother and stepbrothers, and things go very wrong.

“This is just like Christmas!”  
  
An eight year old Lance crawled over his bed, ignoring Allura’s sigh of protest.  
  
“I get a mom and brothers! All in one day!”  
  
“Yes, it’s going to be very exciting here, what with the Baroness and all…” Allura said as she attempted to flatten Lance’s hair  
  
“Hold still!” she said with a small laugh.  
  
“Your father deserves some happiness after all his time, bringing up the child on his own,” added Florona.  
  
“She must be lovely,”  
  
“I hope she likes me!” Lance said.  
  
“She’ll love you!” Allura assured.  
  
“Just be the little angel I know is in there somewhere,” she teased.  
  
“And don’t chew on the bones at dinner and give yourself away,”  
  
Lance stuck his tongue out at both Florona and Allura for their taunts. He was going to be the perfect angel for his father.  
  
There was a sharp bang from the open window and Lance tore away from Allura to see what it was  
  
“Your father arrives any moment!” she said.  
  
Lance peered out the window to see Pidge.  
  
“Pidge! I told you! Not today!”  
  
“You look nice!” Pidge said, sounding mildly confused.  
  
“That’s because I am, halfwit!” Lance replied feeling slightly offended by his friends words.  
  
“But today you look it!”  
  
“Nice or not, I can still whip you!”  
  
“Ha!”  
  
Lance managed to dodge both Florona and Allura in his hurry to get down to Pidge. On his way to get them, he passed Coran, Allura’s uncle. He only ruffled Lance’s hair and let the boy continue on his way.  
  
Coran and the rest of the servants lined up in front of the manor to greet the sir and his new wife.  
  
The carriages pulled to a stop. Daniel McClain stepped off the carriage and smiled at Coran.  
  
“Welcome home, sir,” Coran said.  
  
“I see you have brought us a Baroness,”  
  
“I have brought you an entire household, Coran,” Daniel replied.  
  
“But I seem to be missing a son,”  
  
The carriage door opened. Coran offered out his hand to help two small boys out of the carriage, and then the Baroness herself. The first boy was fair, blonde, and had a sharp face, he was dressed in mostly red. The second boy was a little larger, tanned, and wore mostly blue. The Baroness resembled the first boy in looks, but far more regal and beautiful.  
  
“Oh… Daniel, it’s absolutely charming, really,” she said as Coran helped her down from the carriage.  
  
“Papa!”  
  
Lance came barreling around the corner partly covered in mud. Daniel laughed as he picked his son up.  
  
“Look at you! Just as I left!” he teased.  
  
Lance beamed at his father.  
  
“I’ll wager our friend Pidge is around here?”  
  
“No sir! I slaughtered them!”  
  
Daniel turned to see a miserable, mud-drenched Pidge shuffle toward them and laughed.  
  
“Well, so you did!”  
  
He set Lance down.  
  
“Well, I had hoped to present a little gentleman… I suppose you’ll have to do,” Daniel said.  
  
He wrapped his arms around his son’s small shoulders and turned him to the Baroness and her son’s.  
  
“Lance, may I present, the Baroness Nyma de Ghent, and her sons, Rolo and Hunk,” Daniel said.  
  
“Hello, Lance. At last we meet. Your father speaks of nothing else,” Nyma said.  
  
“Gentlemen, say hello to your new stepbrother,”  
  
Both boys gave a short bow.  
  
“Monsieur,” they greeted in unison.  
  
Lance decided shortly after meeting Rolo and Hunk that he was going to love having brothers. He could introduce them to Pidge and they could all play together!  
  
Lance was entranced with the way they ate dinner, so prim and proper. He wondered if he was going to have to start eating like that too.  
  
That night Daniel tucked Lance into bed and handed him a book he had picked up from his travels.  
  
“Utopia?”  
  
“It means paradise,” Daniel said, he was kneeling at the bed, arms braced on the mattress.  
  
“This might be a little thick for an eight-year-old, but we could add it to our library,”  
  
Lance looked up at his father, putting on his best puppy-dog eyes and pout.  
  
“Will you read some?”  
  
Daniel laughed softly.  
  
“It’s been a very long day,” he said.  
  
“And you’re a husband now,” Lance said.  
  
“Yes, I’m a husband,”  
  
He gave his son a warm smile.  
  
“But a father first and forever,” he told Lance.  
  
“We’ve been two peas in a pod, you and I, for a long time. I suppose this will take some getting used to,”  
  
“Did you see the way they ate their supper?” Lance asked excitedly.  
  
“It was like a dance!”  
  
“Do you like them?” Daniel asked.  
  
Lance was the most important thing to him, he wouldn’t know what to do if his son didn’t like his new stepmother or stepbrothers.  
  
“Very much,” Lance said.  
  
“Good, good. Because I have to go to Altea in a fortnight,”  
  
“But you just got back!” Lance protested.  
  
“I know,”  
  
“For how long?”  
  
“Only… three weeks,” Daniel replied.  
  
“One,” Lance argued.  
  
“Two,”  
  
“One!”  
  
“T… two!” Daniel said with a laugh.  
  
Lance held his fist out. Daniel held his own out. They brought their fists down thrice on the comforter before choosing a shape. Daniel went for paper. Lance won with scissors.  
  
“Alright! One week,” Daniel conceded.  
  
“Come on, go to sleep,” he said.  
  
Daniel kissed Lance’s forehead, made sure the boy was properly tucked in and walked out of his room.  
  
Those two weeks seemed to fly by. Lance spent most of his time with his father, if he couldn’t be with his father then he was with Pidge.  
  
The morning his father was set to leave for Altea everyone was gathered outside to see him off.  
  
“I’ve never seen so many gloomy faces around here,” Daniel commented, a small laugh escaping him.  
  
“I shall be back in a week!”  
  
“The go. The sooner you leave, the sooner we can celebrate your return,” Nyma replied in a simpering voice.  
  
Daniel knelt down to Lance who was standing near Rolo and Hunk.  
  
“Perhaps by then, the three of you will know each other better, huh?”  
  
“I’m counting on you to teach them the ropes around here, the Baroness isn’t used to getting her hands dirty,” he added to Lance.  
  
Nyma didn’t look amused at the statement. Daniel climbed up on his horse, the reins slipped out of his hands. Coran grabbed them and held them back up.  
  
“Thank you, Coran,” Daniel said as he took the reins.  
  
“Safe journey, sir,” Coran replied.  
  
Daniel nudged his horse with his heels, then they were off. Lance watched him turn toward the gate.  
  
“Come along, gentlemen. Back to your lessons,” Nyma said.  
  
“Wait!” Lance said.  
  
“It’s tradition! He always waves at the gate!” he said.  
  
Nyma arched an eyebrow and swept back inside the house without a backwards glance. Lance ran toward the gate only to see his father slip from his horse and hit the ground. He didn’t make a move to get up.  
  
“Papa!” he screamed.  
  
He ran to his father as fast as he could and collapsed at his side.  
  
“Papa!”  
  
“Daniel!”  
  
Nyma was on his other side. Daniel turned his head to look at her briefly before he turned back to Lance, his hand on the side of his sons face.  
  
“I- I love you,” he managed to say.  
  
His hand fell from Lance’s face.  
  
“No!”  
  
“Papa!”  
  
Lance pressed his father’s hand to his face again, willing him to come back.  
  
“Daniel!  
  
“You cannot leave me here!” Nyma wailed.  
  
Then Coran was leading a sobbing Nyma away and Florona and Allura were trying to pull Lance away from his father. He could hear them crying and pleading with him, but he didn’t care about that. He just wanted his father to come back.  
  
“Leave me!” Lance cried, pushing at their hands.  
  
“Papa! Please come back!” he sobbed.  
  
It would be another 10 years before another man would enter his life. A man who was still a boy in many, many ways.


	3. The Apples

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where Lance and Keith finally meet due to a stolen horse and some apples.

Keith tossed his bed-sheet-made-rope out of his bedroom window. He could practically hear his father making his way to his bedroom to force him to marry the Prince of Daibazaal. Keith didn’t want to marry the Prince of Daibazaal. He didn’t even want to be the Crowned Prince of Arus, but he had no choice in that.  
  
He threw his leg over his windowsill, climbed down the makeshift rope, grabbed his horse, and ran.  
  
The King of Arus marched to his sons’ room, his Queen at his side.  
  
“I signed a marriage treaty with the King of Daibazaal and that boy will obey me, or there will be hell to pay!” he threatened.  
  
“But he does not love him, my lord,” the Queen said, trying to get her husband to understand why Keith was so upset.  
  
“It’s not about love!”  
  
“Perhaps it should be!”  
  
“If he is to become King, he must accept his responsibilities!” the King shouted.  
  
“A sapling cannot grow in the shadow of a mighty oak, dear. He needs sunlight!” she told him.  
  
“He needs a good whipping!”  
  
“Really, my lord, can’t this wait until morning?” she asked as they reached Keith’s room.  
  
“If I can’t sleep, neither shall he,”  
  
The King stormed into the bedroom.  
  
“Keith! Wake up!”  
  
But his bed was empty, the window was open, and his sheets had been thrown out the window.  
  
“Oh no,” the Queen said quietly as she sat on her sons’ bed.  
  
“Not again,”  
  
“Call out the guard! Bring him back!” the King shouted.

  
  


Lance woke up due to the rooster, like he always did. He had fallen asleep in front of the fire the previous night, _Utopia_ laying unfinished on his chest. He closed the book and gently set it to the side and began to start his day.  
  
He first went to gather apples from the orchard.  
  
“Come on, you stupid beast!”  
  
Lance turned to see someone attempting to steal his late father’s horse.  
  
“Come on, ya!” the stranger shouted.  
  
“Oh no you don’t!”  
  
Lance dropped all but one of the apples he had been gathering and flung it at the thief. It hit him right on the back which caused the man to slip off the horse’s back.  
  
“Thief!” Lance yelled as he threw another apple.  
  
“This will teach you to steal my father’s horse!”  
  
“Mine slipped his shoe! I had no choice!” the man defended, he was hunched over a little, his hood covered his face.  
  
“And our choice is to what? To let you?” Lance demanded, ready to throw another apple.  
  
“I was borrowing it!”  
  
“Get out, or I’ll wake the house!”  
  
Lance threw another apple. This time the fruit hit the man directly in the forehead. He fell back, his hood falling from his face, and his cloak revealing the Seal of the Crown on his chest.  
  
Lance fell to his knees to bow before the Prince.  
  
“Forgive me, Your Highness. I did not see you,” he said.  
  
Lance could only think that he hit the Crowned Prince of Arus with apples. _Multiple times._ He was going to be sentenced to death.  
  
“Your aim would suggest otherwise,” Keith replied as he looked down at the Seal of the Crown with mild disdain.  
  
“And for that I know I must die,” Lance said, keeping his eyes locked on the hay beneath him.  
  
“Then… er… speak of this to no one and… I shall be lenient,” Keith replied as he mounted the horse once more.  
  
“We have other horses, Highness. Younger, if that is your wish,” Lance offered.  
  
“I wish for nothing more than to be free of my gilded cage,” Keith replied.  
  
A number of small, shiny things dropped to the ground next to Lance. A quick glance told him that it was 20 gold pieces.  
  
“For your silence,”  
  
For just a moment Lance watched the Prince gallop away before he returned his attention back to the 20 gold pieces on the ground. He could get Coran back with these!  
  
He gathered up the pieces, and the apples, and quickly made his way back up to the manor. His stepmother and stepbrothers were sure to be up.

  
  


At the Manor de Ghent, Nyma and her sons were seated in the dining room, waiting for their servants to finish making breakfast.  
  
“I asked for four-minute eggs, not four one-minute eggs. And where in God’s name is our bread?” Rolo shouted.  
  
“It’s just coming out of the oven, my lord,” Florona said.  
  
“Rolo, precious, what do I always say about tone?” Nyma asked gently.  
  
“A gentleman of breeding ought never to raise his voice in such ways,” Hunk replied in a soft voice.  
  
Nyma turned her sharp gaze to her younger son.  
  
“Hunk, dear. Do not speak unless you can improve the silence,” she snapped.  
  
Hunk looked down at his plate, a small frown etched on his face at his mother’s tone.  
  
“I was not shrill, I was resonant,” Rolo replied.  
  
“A courtier knows the difference,” Nyma told him.  
  
“I doubt your style of resonance would be permitted in the Royal Court,” she added.  
  
“I’m not going to the Royal Court, am I, mother?” Rolo replied in a dry voice.  
  
“No one is. Except some Daibazaal pig they have the nerve to call a Prince,” he spat.  
  
“Darling, nothing is final until you’re dead,” Nyma assured.  
  
“And even then I’m sure God negotiates,” she added.  
  
“Why is there no salt on this table?”  
  
“Lance!”  
  
Lance heard her call from the kitchen. He dumped the apples into a basket and he, Florona, and Allura shot each other a remarkably similar look.  
  
“Coming!” he yelled back.  
  
“She’s in one of her moods,” Florona said with an eyeroll.  
  
“Did the sun rise in the east?” snarked Allura, already tired of the Baroness’s attitude.  
  
“Yes, Allura, it did! And it’s going to be a beautiful day!”  
  
Lance dumped the 20 gold pieces onto the counter. Both Allura and Florona gasped at the sight of them.  
  
“Look at all those pieces!”  
  
“Child, where did you get this?”  
  
“From an angel of mercy,” Lance said.  
  
He turned to Allura and grabbed both of her hands in his.  
  
“And I know just what to do with them,” he told her.  
  
“Coran?” she asked, her voice almost too quiet to hear.  
  
“If the Baroness can sell your Uncle to pay her taxes, then these can bring him home! The Court will have to let him go!” Lance exclaimed.  
  
“But the King has sold him to a Cartier. He’s bound for the New World!” Allura said.  
  
“This is our home, and I will not see it fall apart,” Lance said.  
  
“We are waiting!” Nyma yelled from the dining room.  
  
The three acted fast. Allura and Florona gathered up the pieces and dumped them back into Lance’s apron before handing him the bread and salt.  
  
“Take heed, Lance, or those coins are as good as hers,” Florona warned.  
  
Lance walked out of the kitchen and into the dining room where Nyma, Rolo, and Hunk were waiting.  
  
“Morning, Madame, Rolo, Hunk. I trust you slept well,” Lance said as he set the bread down.  
  
Hunk was the only one who smiled and nodded at him.  
  
“What kept you?” Nyma demanded.  
  
“I fell off the ladder in the orchard, but I am better now,” Lance lied.  
  
“Someone’s been reading in the fireplace again,” Rolo commented.  
  
Lance looked over at him, suddenly feeling very self conscious. Was there something wrong with how he looked?  
  
“Look at you. Ash and soot everywhere,” he added.  
  
“Some people read because they cannot think for themselves,” Nyma said.  
  
“Why don’t you sleep with the pigs, Cinder-Soot… if you insist on smelling like one,” Rolo said, his cold eyes boring into Lance’s.  
  
Lance tried not to flush in embarrassment. He ducked his head and scrubbed at his cheek with his sleeve.  
  
“That was harsh, Rolo,” the Baroness said, but the smirk on her face was just as cruel as the one on her son’s.  
  
“Lance, come here, child,” she said.  
  
Lance took a few steps toward her.  
  
“Your appearance does reflect a certain… crudeness, my dear. What can I do to make you try?” she asked.  
  
“I do try, stepmother. I do wish to please you. Sometimes I sit on my own and try to think of what else I could do, how to act-”  
  
“Oh, calm down child. Relax,” Nyma interrupted, waving him away.  
  
Lance started to head back to the kitchen but instead he paused and turned back to his stepmother.  
  
“Perhaps if we brought back Coran, I would no offend you so,” he said.  
  
“It is your manner that offends, Lance. Throughout these hard times, I have sheltered you and cared for you. All that I ask in return is that you help me here without complaint. Is that such an extraordinary request?” Nyma demanded.  
  
His shoulders fell slightly.  
  
“No, my lady,” he said.  
  
“Very well. We shall have no more talk of servants coming back. Understood?” Nyma snapped.  
  
“Yes, my lady,” Lance said before he turned and walked back into the kitchen.  
  
If Nyma wasn’t going to bring back Coran on her own, then Lance was going to have to do it himself.


	4. The Painting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith meets his idol, Lance get's part of his family back, Lance and Keith have an argument, and some lies are told.

When Keith ran away from his castle early that morning, he hadn’t expected to find himself in front of a caravan being robbed by a gang of Unilu. Yet there he was.  
  
One of the Unilu whistled sharply.  
  
“Get on the horses!”  
  
“It’s the Royal Guard! Run!”  
  
The small smile on Keith’s face slipped away as he turned to look back. The Royal Guard had indeed found him.  
  
“I don’t believe this!” he hissed.  
  
Before he could take off and try to get away from the Royal Guard, a man ran over to him and grabbed the reins.  
  
“The painting…”  
  
“Please, for the love of God, the painting,” he said.  
  
He pointed to a man scrambling up the hillside, a tube in his hands.  
  
“That man, he’s getting away!”  
  
“The Guard will assist you. I cannot!” Keith said.  
  
“Please, sir! It is… my life,” the man pleaded.  
  
Keith let out a heavy sigh and jerked the reins to follow the thief. The thief came out of nowhere on his own horse and knocked Keith off of his using the tube. Their scramble for the tube sent them over a small cliff and into the water.

  
  


Nyma held up a small, diamond encrusted brooch up on Rolo’s chest and frowned in dissatisfaction.  
  
“No,” she said.  
  
“Too small. It needs to draw some attention!”  
  
“I fear, Baroness, anything larger might make him fall over,” the shopkeeper said.  
  
Nyma pursed her lips and set the brooch down.  
  
“Perhaps you are right. I shall have to look elsewhere,” she said.  
  
“I-I have just the thing!” the shopkeeper said to keep them from going anywhere.

  
  


“Have you lost your marbles?” Pidge demanded.  
  
They were with Lance in their painting studio so Lance could find the proper outfit that would make him look like a Courtier.  
  
“Do you know what the punishment is, for servants who dress above their station?” Pidge demanded as Lance disappeared behind the changing screen.  
  
“Five days in the stocks,”  
  
“You’d do the same for me, admit it,” Lance replied.  
  
“Me? Pretend to be a Courtier… or a Comtesse?” Pidge scoffed.  
  
“Prancing around like some nobleperson when I’ve never been to court! And neither have you!” they said.  
  
“Then I won’t be recognised,” Lance replied.  
  
“Hand me those clothes so I can be on my way,”  
  
Pidge tossed them over the top of the changing screen.  
  
“They’ll never buy it,” they said.  
  
“You are too… sweet,”  
  
“I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Lance muttered.  
  
“And they’ll never buy a servant with 20 gold pieces either,” he added before they could respond to his quip.  
  
“I am Coran’s only hope,”  
  
“And the Baroness, what did you tell her?” Pidge asked.  
  
“I am picking wildflowers. Pidge, can you still see her?” Lance asked.  
  
“They’re buying a brooch,”  
  
“Unbelievable,” Lance hissed as he attempted to fasten the hundreds of buttons on his outfit.  
  
“She ignores the manor, blames us for her debt, and still pretends to have money to burn!”  
  
Lance adjusted the top slightly.  
  
“Don’t you dare laugh,” he warned.  
  
“I’m coming out,”  
  
He stepped out from behind the changing screen. His outfit was a nice light tan color with blue designs.  
  
“The shoes don’t fit,” he said.  
  
“I don’t think I have any others that will match,” Pidge said.  
  
Lance frowned as he slipped the shoes on.  
  
“If you’re going to be a nobleman, you must play the part,” Pidge stated as they tilted Lance’s head up.  
  
“You look down to no-one,”  
  
“I’m just a servant in nice clothes,” he said quietly.  
  
Pidge smiled at him.  
  
“Come, we have to do something with that hair,”

  
  


Keith sulked back to the caravan with the painting in hand. He was drenched, in a very bad mood, and now the Royal Guard was waiting to escort him back home. Wonderful.  
  
“Thank you!”  
  
The man took the tube back and hugged it against his chest.  
  
“Keith, you promised,” his Guard Captain, Shay, said.  
  
“I know… I lied,” he muttered.  
  
“I thought… I’d see the world before I gave up my life to God and country,” Keith said.  
  
“Why on earth did you stop?” the man with the painting demanded.  
  
He had black hair with a white tuft at the front, a scar across the bridge of his eyes, and a metal arm.  
  
“I suppose I lack conviction,” Keith replied.  
  
“You seem to have it in spades,”  
  
“Besides, you claimed it was a matter of life and death,” he snapped as he gestured to the painting.  
  
The man smiled softly and unrolled the painting to reveal a portrait of a smirking woman dressed in a dark dress.  
  
“A woman always is, sir,”  
  
“She laughs at me, sir, as if she knows something I do not,” Keith said.  
  
“The lady had many secrets, I merely painted one of them,” the man replied with a smile.  
  
“Signor Shirogane has been invited to the palace as the artist in residence,” Shay said.  
  
“Takashi Shirogane?” Keith demanded.  
  
“Matthew Holt was trapped under a ceiling in Altea. I’m just a second choice,” Takashi Shirogane said.  
  
“Here I am on my way to Kerberos, and I find my salvation on the highway!” Keith exclaimed as he grabbed onto Shiro’s arm.  
  
“Sir, you are the founder of forward thinking, and my father is the King of backward. Could you talk him into the 14th century?” Keith asked.  
  
“Captain Shay, do translate,” Shiro said, looking mildly alarmed.  
  
“Prince Keith suffers from an arranged marriage, signore, among other things,” Shay replied.  
  
Keith turned to glare up at her but she just smiled back at him.  
  
“We are going to return the horse that your Royal Highness stole, and then it’s back to the castle!” Shay said.  
  
“Captain…”  
  
“Your father instructed me to bring you home however necessary,” she warned.  
  
Keith mounted his horse without another word. Shay could knock him out in one blow and carry him back. He would much rather ride back to his gilded cage with some kind of dignity.  
  
Baroness Nyma de Ghent seemed surprised to see him.  
  
“Oh! Your Highness!”  
  
She sank into a low bow.  
  
“What a lovely surprise. To what do we owe this great honor?” she asked.  
  
“I’m returning your horse, Baroness,” he said.  
  
“Oh. Was it missing?” she asked.  
  
“Yes, I took the liberty of borrowing it earlier. I’m afraid I scared your servant, a young man with a…”  
  
Keith gently touched his forehead.  
  
“Quite a good arm, actually,”  
  
“He is mute!” the Baroness said quickly.  
  
“Really? He spoke quite forcefully,” Keith replied, a small frown etched on his face.  
  
“Well, it comes and goes,” she said.  
  
“But as always, Your Highness is welcome to anything he wishes. Anything at all,” she simpered.  
  
There was a clamor from inside the manor as two young men came barreling out of the door.  
  
“Oh, gentlemen, here you are,”  
  
“Your Highness,” the said in unison as they bowed.  
  
“Your Highness, may I present, Rolo Francis Luis of the House of Ghent? And Hunk,”  
  
Rolo looked like his mother, blonde and beautiful. Hunk was tanned, larger, and sort of reminded Keith of Captain Shay.  
  
“You may indeed,” he said.  
  
“Gentlemen, forgive me, but you seem to have blossomed overnight,” Keith said because he was supposed to be charming.  
  
“We’re so looking forward to celebrating the engagement to your own Galran rose,” the Baroness said.  
  
“Yes, well, there have been… several new developments with regards to Daibazaal,” Keith said.  
  
His gaze caught on the brooch on Rolo’s chest.  
  
“I must say, Rolo, that brooch is… stunning,” he said.  
  
“This old thing?” Rolo asked as he fingered the brooch.  
  
“You’re too kind,” he said.  
  
Next to him, Hunk not too subtly touched the smaller brooch on his chest. Keith barely managed to hear Shay’s gentle laugh.  
  
“These developments, I trust, are for the best?” the Baroness asked.  
  
“Let us hope so,”  
  
“Good day gentlemen,”

  
  


“Make way for the gentleman!”  
  
Lance walked through the guards, his toes clenching in his shoes to keep them from slipping off. He peered over the edge of the bridge to see a carriage full of prisoners. Coran was among them.  
  
“Lord give me strength,” he whispered.  
  
Lance made his way down to the carriage and grabbed hold of the horses reins before they could move.  
  
“I wish to address the issue of this gentleman,” Lance said, pointing to Coran who frankly looked astonished.  
  
“He is my servant and I am here to pay the debt against him,” he said.  
  
“You’re too late, he’s paid for,” the driver of the carriage snapped.  
  
“I can pay you 20 gold pieces,”  
  
“You can have me for 20 gold pieces,” the man snarled.  
  
“Drive on!”  
  
Lance didn’t relinquish his hold on the reins. He wasn’t going to leave without Coran.  
  
“I demand you release him at once! Or I shall take this matter to the King!” Lance threatened.  
  
“The King’s the one that sold ‘im! He’s now property of the Cartier,” the driver said.  
  
“He is not property at all, you ill-mannered tub of guts,” Lance snapped.  
  
“Do you think it right to chain people like chattel?” he demanded.  
  
“I demand you release him at once!”  
  
“Get out of my way!” the driver yelled.  
  
“You dare raise your voice to a gentleman, sir?”  
  
Lance froze. He turned around to see Prince Keith. _Oh fuck_. Lance bowed slowly.  
  
“Your Highness,” he said quietly.  
  
“F-Forgive me, Sire, I meant no disrespect. It’s just… I’m followin’ orders. It’s my job to take these thieves to the coast,” the driver said.  
  
“A servant is not a thief, Your Highness, and those who are cannot help themselves,” Lance said, looking the Prince dead in the eyes.  
  
If the Prince recognized him at all, he was doing quite the job not showing anything.  
  
“Really? Well, then. By all means, enlighten us,” the Prince said.  
  
Lance didn’t like the Prince’s tone of voice, it was far too haughty. He wasn’t going to let anyone talk to him like that, Prince or not.  
  
“If you suffer your people to be ill-educated and their manners corrupted from infancy, then punish them for the crimes to which their first education disposed them, what else is to be concluded, Sire, but that you first make thieves and then punish them?” Lance asked.  
  
The Prince actually looked impressed.  
  
“Well, there you have it,” he said quietly.  
  
“Release him,”  
  
“But, Sire,” the driver protested.  
  
“I said… release him,”  
  
Lance turned and followed the driver. Coran stepped off of the carriage and gently rubbed his wrists.  
  
“I thought I was looking at your father,” Coran whispered, tears in his eyes.  
  
“Meet me at the bridge,” Lance said just as quietly.  
  
“Prepare the horses! We will leave at once!” he said in a much louder voice.  
  
Coran nodded and hurried off. Lance, however, turned back to the Prince.  
  
“I thank you, Your Highness,” he said as he walked past him.  
  
“Have we met?” the Prince inquired as he followed Lance.  
  
“I do not believe so, Your Highness,” Lance replied.  
  
“I could have sworn I knew every courtier in the province,”  
  
“Well, I’m visiting a cousin,” Lance said.  
  
“Who?” the Prince asked.  
  
“My cousin,” Lance replied.  
  
The Prince stopped right in front of Lance. Lance stopped as well and looked the Prince in the eyes.  
  
“Yes, you said that, which one?”  
  
“The only one I have, Sire,”  
  
The Prince frowned.  
  
“Are you coy on purpose, or do you honestly refuse to tell me your name?” he asked.  
  
“No!” Lance said as he moved around the Prince.  
  
“And yes,” he added.  
  
“Then, pray, tell me your cousin’s name so I might call upon them to learn who you are,” the Prince said.  
  
Lance just kept walking.  
  
“Anyone who can quote Thomas Moore is well worth the effort,”  
  
Lance stopped walking and turned back to the Prince. He was just standing there, looking at Lance. He really was very good looking, all black hair and purple eyes.  
  
“The Prince has read _Utopia_?” he asked.  
  
“I found it sentimental and dull,” the Prince replied as he walked around Lance.  
  
“I confess, the plight of the everyday rustic bores me,”  
  
Whatever thoughts Lance had been thinking about the Prince were gone with that sentence.  
  
“I gather you do not converse with many peasants,” Lance said a little bitterly.  
  
The Prince laughed at that.  
  
“Certainly not, no! Naturally,”  
  
Lance brushed past him.  
  
“Excuse me, Sire, but there is nothing natural about it,” he said shortly.  
  
“A country’s character is defined by its everyday rustics, as you call them. They are the legs you stand on. That position demands respect, not…” Lance gestured angrily as he finished his rant.  
  
“Am I to understand that you find me arrogant?” the Prince asked, sounding stunned.  
  
“Well, you gave one man back his life, but did you even glance at the others?” Lance asked.  
  
For a moment the Prince stopped walking, Lance did not.  
  
“Please,” the Prince said, hand on Lance’s arm.  
  
“I beg of you, a name, any name,” he said.  
  
Lance panicked.  
  
“I fear that the only name to leave you with is Courtier Anton Álveraz,” Lance said.  
  
The Prince let go of him and smiled. _Wow_. The sight was almost enough to keep Lance from panicking over the fact that he gave the Prince a shortened version of his mother’s name.  
  
“Oh, Keith!”  
  
Both the Prince and Lance looked over to see the Queen. Lance took that as his one and only chance to get away from the Prince.  
  
“You’re back,” the Queen said with a pleased smile.  
  
“Hello, mother,” Keith greeted.  
  
“The King would like a word with you, several, in fact,” she said.  
  
“He usually does. I shall be right in,”  
  
Keith turned back to Anton only to find that he was not there. Keith frowned. Why did he do that?

  
  


It was evening when Lance and Coran returned to the manor. Lance was back in his usual clothes and he had a bouquet of wildflowers in his hand.  
  
“Coran!”  
  
Then Allura was there, and then Florona. Lance couldn’t stop smiling. His family was finally back together.


	5. A Compromise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Both Lance and Keith find themselves in trouble (for different reasons); Keith and his Father strike up a compromise

“You, sir, are restricted to the grounds!”  
  
Those were the words Keith’s father chose to greet him with when he walked into the Throne Room. Keith’s eyebrows arched upwards as he looked at his father. The King was looking at a map.  
  
“Am I under house arrest?” Keith demanded.  
  
“Do not mock me, boy, for I am in a foul disposition,” the King responded, pausing only to glance at his son.  
  
“And I will have my way,”  
  
“Or what?” Keith asked.  
  
“You’ll send me to the America’s like some criminal?” he demanded, recalling his recent conversation with Anton.  
  
“All for the sake of your stupid contract,” he added.  
  
“You are the crowned Prince of Arus!” his father snapped.  
  
“And it is my life,” Keith replied.  
  
“Darling, sit down before you have a stroke,” the Queen said to her husband.  
  
“Really, the two of you,” she muttered as she sat down.  
  
“Sweetheart…” she started.  
  
“You were born to privilege, and with that comes specific obligations,” she said.  
  
Keith struggled against rolling his eyes.  
  
“Forgive me, Mother, but marriage to a stranger never made anyone in this room very happy,” he snapped.  
  
“You will marry Lotor by the next full moon or I will strike at you in any way I can,” the King threatened.  
  
Keith looked up at the ceiling for a moment before turning his gaze to his father.  
  
“What’s it to be, father? Hot oil, or the rack?”  
  
His father’s face started to turn red, a sure sign at how upset he was with Keith.  
  
“I will simply deny you the crown… and… live forever!” he announced.  
  
From her seat, the Queen sighed softly and shook her head.  
  
“Good,” Keith spit out as he whirled on his father.  
  
“I don’t want it,”  
  
With that he walked out of the throne room.

  
  


Lance walked into one of the dining rooms to find his step-brothers sitting at the table, playing a dice game.  
  
“Somebody’s in trouble!” Rolo sang, a malicious smirk on his face.  
  
Lance frowned.  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“You stupid, stupid boy!”  
  
Nyma came at him from nowhere, startling Lance so bad he fell back into the chair behind him.  
  
“How dare you do this to me! To Rolo? It all makes me sick! It’s deceitfulness, Lance, and I will not have it in this house!” she exclaimed.  
  
“What did I do?” Lance asked.  
  
“Think, Lance. Think really hard,” Rolo said.  
  
Hunk caught Lance’s gaze for a short second and mimed a running horse with his fingers.  
  
“Horse,” he mouthed.  
  
He only stopped when he noticed Rolo watching him. Lance swallowed thickly and looked back up at his step-mother.  
  
“Prince Keith stole our horse this morning?” he asked, his voice shaking a bit.  
  
“Yes!” Nyma said like Lance was an idiot.  
  
“Which would explain why he returned it this afternoon,” she said.  
  
“How dare you let him surprise us like that!” she snapped.  
  
“I’m sorry,” Lance muttered.  
  
“Lucky for you, Rolo turned in a beautiful performance. He and the Prince had quite an interlude. I shouldn’t be surprised if he drops by again,” Nyma said.  
  
Lance had to hold back a snort of disbelief. Behind his mother, Rolo wore a smug smirk on his face.  
  
“Come, come!” Nyma said with a clap.  
  
“I must know exactly what was said,” she insisted.  
  
“The simplest phrase can have a thousand meanings. He said you were forceful. What did you say?” she demanded.  
  
Lance looked away from he for a second.  
  
“L- I called him a thief, madam,”  
  
Nyma’s eyes widened.  
  
“I did not recognize him!” Lance added, trying to cover his ass.  
  
Nyma let out a mocking laugh.  
  
“Oh, Lance. You poor, little country boy,” she mused.  
  
Lance was afraid for a moment that she was going to whip him, or otherwise punish him.  
  
“Well, we must work extra hard to make sure the manor is spotless,” Nyma said.  
  
Lance nodded.  
  
“We cannot have a royal bottom sitting on a dirty chaise, can we?”  
  
Lance shook his head.  
  
“No,” he said.  
  
Before Nyma could say anything else, Coran walked into the room. The movement caught Rolo’s attention.  
  
“What is he doing here?”  
  
Nyma turned around to see Coran. She looked less than pleased to see him.  
  
“I have worked off your…”  
  
Whatever he saw on Nyma’s face made him stop talking.  
  
“ _My_ debt, madam. They told me I could go home,” he told her.  
  
“Fine,” Nyma said.  
  
“Go… catch a chicken,” she said as she waved him off. 

  
  


Keith was walking side by side with his mother in the gardens. They often did that when the King was being ridiculous. Keith also wanted to tell his mother about Anton, just in case she knew who he was talking about.  
  
“Who dear?” the Queen asked  
  
“Courtier Anton Álveraz,” he said.  
  
“He’s a cousin of… actually, I don’t know who his cousin is,” Keith admitted.  
  
“Surely you have heard of him,” he said, trying to keep how hopeful he was out of his voice.  
  
“Oh, darling, there are simply too many courtiers to remember them all by name. Why do you ask?”  
  
“Mm?” Keith asked vacantly.  
  
“Oh, never mind,” he said quietly, disappointed that his mother hadn’t known who he was talking about.  
  
Before the Queen could press the subject further, like she wanted to do, they were interrupted by the King.  
  
“In honor of Signor Shirogane, I have decided to throw a ball. A masked ball,” the King stated.  
  
“At which point, you and I will strike a compromise,”  
  
“Compromise?” Keith scoffed.  
  
“You?” he asked.  
  
The King didn’t looked amused, not that he ever did with Keith’s antics.  
  
“If love is what you seek, I suggest you find it before then,” he said.  
  
Keith’s mind went to Anton. He couldn’t help it. He was so intrigued by the Courtier. If he could just _find_ him.  
  
“Five days hence, at the stroke of midnight you will make your engagement to the boy of your choice, or, I will announce it for you,” the King said.  
  
Keith evenly met his father's gaze.  
  
“Are we agreed?” the King asked.  
  
“What of your treaty?”  
  
“Let me worry about Daibazaal. You’ve got bigger problems,” the King responded.  
  
“Choose wisely, Keith,” his mother said sagely.  
  
“Divorce is only something they do in Balmera,”  
  
Five days. Keith had five days to find Anton. Find Anton and somehow hope five days was enough to fall in love.


	6. The Lake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nyma starts to plot, Lance goes for a swim, and Keith and Shiro spend the day at the lake.

Nyma stood at the door of the Manor, a worker from the Palace at her doorstep, feeding her information about the Royal Family- as per their agreement.  
  
“And what news of the engagement?” Nyma asked.  
  
“Cancelled,” the man said.  
  
Nyma arched an eyebrow, her thoughts already fleeing to Rolo finally getting his chance with the Prince.  
  
“Rumor has it, he must find himself a husband before that very night,”  
  
“Well,” Nyma said softly.  
  
“That doesn’t give us very much time,” she said.  
  
She pulled out her coin purse and opened it and pulled out a few shiny pieces.  
  
“I shall need to know who the competition is, every move he makes, his agenda, and any other tidbits you might pick up,” she said as he dropped the coins in his hand.  
  
“He’s playing tennis with the Marquis de Limoges tomorrow at noon,” the man said quickly.  
  
Nyma smiled again, this one much sharper. She reached out to gently stroke the man’s cheek.  
  
“A skin of such… elegance… concealing such… ruthlessness,” she said.  
  
“I’ve grown rather fond of our intrigues together,” she said with a casual wink.  
  
“Surely you must know that,”  
  
“I’m having an inkling, my Lady,” the man replied, an ugly smirk growing on his face.  
  
“When my son is King, perhaps we might come to a new arrangement,” Nyma said.  
  
She was going to do everything she could to get Rolo on the throne, if that meant she had to tell a few white lies in the process, then so be it.

  
  


“I’d have given anything to see you all dressed up like a courtier,” Allura commented.  
  
She and Lance were harvesting honey.  
  
“Speaking to the Prince like a gentleman,” she sighed.  
  
“Scolding him is more like it,” Lance replied as took the stack of honeycomb from Allura so she could close the hive back up.  
  
“I cannot believe I gave him my mother’s name,” Lance muttered.  
  
“The man is insufferable,” he added.  
  
Allura pushed back the netting covering her face to look at him.  
  
“Yes,” she said shortly.  
  
“You’ve been saying that… all day,”  
  
Lance handed off the honeycomb and pushed the net covering his face up so she could see him rolling his eyes.  
  
“Well, it’s as true now as it was this morning,” he said.  
  
“Darling, he’s royalty. They’re born like that,” Allura responded.  
  
“Then I suppose the penalty for being wealthy is having to live with the rich,” Lance said.  
  
“I’ll be he’s quite charming, once you get to know him,”  
  
“I think he and Rolo deserve each other,” Lance muttered.  
  
“Oh! Bite your tongue!” Allura said.  
  
“The only throne I want him sitting on is the one I have to clean every day!”  
  
Lance laughed loudly.

  
  


Nyma held up a nice red dress robe for Rolo who just sighed and rolled his eyes.  
  
“What’s wrong with this one?” Nyma asked.  
  
“It’s red!” Rolo responded like it was obvious.  
  
“Keith loves red!”  
  
“And 50 other men will be wearing the same color!”  
  
Nyma lowered the robes, a small smile on her face.  
  
“Very good, Rolo,” she said.  
  
“This one is too small,” Hunk announced as he walked back into the room in an ill fitting green jacket.  
  
Nyma pursed her lips.  
  
“We shall just have to get you a tighter suit,” she replied.  
  
“I cannot breathe as it is!” Hunk protested.  
  
“If one cannot breathe, one cannot eat,” Nyma hissed.  
  
Hunk bowed his head and looked at the floor.  
  
“Mother! Focus, please!” Rolo whined.  
  
“Perhaps if I knew what you were looking for!” Nyma responded, suddenly much more compassionate than with her younger son.  
  
“Something fit for a King!”  
  
Nyma paused. Yes… she had something fit for a King.  
  
“Come, gentlemen. I have just the thing,” she said, discarding the red robes in her hand.  
  
“But we must speak of this to no-one,” she warned.  
  
“Oh! I do love a good intrigue!” Rolo announced happily as he followed his mother out of the room.  
  
Nyma led them to the room Lance no longer used and opened a trunk at the foot of the bed and pulled out a gorgeous silvery blue jacket.  
  
“Waste not, want not,” she mused.  
  
“Oh! Perfect!” Rolo said.  
  
Hunk pulled out a shoe with crystals adorning it. It was a perfect match for the dress robes.  
  
“Look at these shoes,” he whispered.  
  
“Where did you get these?” he asked.  
  
He couldn’t imagine why his mother had kept something like that hidden from them.  
  
“They’re Lance’s dowry, for his wedding,” Nyma responded.  
  
“Cinderella? Married? To whom, the chimney sweep?” Rolo taunted.  
  
“If these dress robes are his, perhaps he’ll want to wear it to the ball,” Hunk protested.  
  
“Since when does a royal function include commoners?”  
  
“Well, never,” Hunk said.  
  
“But he is our stepbrother, and the invitation did say, ‘to the gentlemen of the house’,” he reminded them.  
  
“He’s not of noble blood- and who would notice?” Nyma asked.  
  
Hunk looked down again.  
  
“Honestly, Hunk, whose side are you on?”  
  
There was noise from the other side of the room and they all turned to see Lance. He was carrying a bundle of sticks in his arms.  
  
“What are you doing?” Lance asked as he set the wood down near the fireplace.  
  
“Airing out your robes… for the masque,” Nyma responded.  
  
“His robes? But you just said-” Hunk started.  
  
“I suppose for a commoner, it’ll have to do. I mean, look at it. It’s practically an antique,” Rolo said, looking at the fabric like it personally offended him.  
  
“You wish me… to go to a masque?” Lance asked, his voice so soft and unsure.  
  
“Mm,”  
  
“Of course!” Nyma said with forced cheer.  
  
“I don’t know what to say,” Lance said.  
  
“Say? Honestly, Lance. It hurts me you don’t feel like one of my sons,” she said.  
  
“I only meant-”  
  
“I thought we could all go! As one big happy family,” Nyma said.  
  
“That is, if you complete your chores in time, and mind your manners till then,” she added.  
  
Lance nodded vigorously. Hunk set the shoe down as carefully as he could before he stormed out of the room. Sick of how Nyma and Rolo were acting.  
  
“What’s the matter with him?” Lance asked.  
  
“Oh,” Rolo said quietly.  
  
“He… doesn’t want you to go,”  
  
Lance frowned ever so slightly. He had thought that out of all his step-family, Hunk was the one who disliked him the least. But Lance had been wrong before so no doubt he was wrong again.

  
  


“Do you really think there is only one perfect mate?” Keith asked.  
  
He and Shiro were at the shore of a lake. Shiro wanted to test out a few new inventions and Keith wasn’t going to turn down an invitation to watch him work.  
  
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Shiro replied.  
  
“How can you be certain to find them?” Keith asked, thinking- not for the first time- about Anton.  
  
And if you find them, are they really the one for you, or do you only think they are?” Keith asked as he started to pace.  
  
“What if the person you're meant to be with never appears? Or he does, but… but you're too distracted to notice?”  
  
“You learn to pay attention,” Shiro replied.  
  
“Then, let's say… God puts two people on earth, and they are lucky enough to find one another. But... one of them gets hit by lightning. Well, then what? Is that it? Or perchance you meet someone new and marry again. Is that the one you should be with? Or was it the first? When the two of them are side by side, were they both the one for you... and you just met the first one first? Or is the second one supposed to be first? And is everything just chance… or are some things meant to be?”  
  
“You cannot leave everything to fate, boy,” Shiro said with a smile.  
  
“She’s got a lot to do. Sometimes you must give her a hand,”  
  
Keith looked up at Shiro for a moment and found himself smiling too.  
  
“What's this project?” he asked.  
  
He appeared to be looking at a pair of shoes that looked an awful lot like small boats.  
  
“Would you care to see if they work?” Shiro asked

  
  


Lance and the pig walked out near the lake. The pig was digging up roots for him. Lance knelt to the ground and went to pick up some roots but he paused. His hands were filthy. He sighed softly and looked out toward the lake.  
  
“Do you think they would care if I went for a swim?” he asked the pig.  
  
The pig, however, did not respond.  
  
“I didn’t think so,” Lance agreed.  
  
He easily pulled off his dirty clothes, leaving himself in only his undergarments and headed for the lake. No one would see him, and no one would bother him.  
  
He swam out to the middle of the lake, pausing every once and a while to float on his back. He loved the water. Always had, even when he was a child.  
  
“It looks like rain,”  
  
Lance opened his eyes at the voice and screamed. Above him, _standing on water_ like it was the most natural thing in the world, was a man.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell @ me  
> [here](http://www.starsdustlance.tumblr.com)


End file.
